The Board remands the claims for service connection for asthma and pulmonary vascular disease (PVD) to obtain an adequate medical opinion regarding their etiology, including whether they are related to the Veteran's active service or secondary to his service-connected posttraumatic stress disorder.
The deciding factor: The February 2023 VA examination is inadequate due to contradictory statements regarding the diagnosis and the January 2024 opinion is inadequate because the examiner stated PVD cannot be diagnosed by a clinical psychologist, which is the specialty this examiner cited as her own credentials. Therefore, remand is necessary for an adequate medical opinion.
- Claimed conditions
- asthma, pulmonary vascular disease (PVD)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Burn pits / airborne hazards
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 22, 2025
- Citation
- A25036975
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran was granted a 70 percent disability rating for unspecified trauma and stressor-related disorder with major depressive disorder, recurrent, and alcohol use disorder in early remission, as well as TDIU due to asthma and SMC at the housebound rate.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for asthma and remanded claims for insomnia and sleep apnea. Other conditions were denied.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including sinusitis, elbows condition, cervical condition, erectile dysfunction, kidney condition, sleep apnea, wrists condition, asthma, shoulders condition, ankles condition, eye condition (bilateral dry macular degeneration), peripheral vascular disease (heart condition), and rhinitis.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's request for an earlier effective date for service connection for asthma, as he did not file a claim or intent to file a claim within one year of his separation from service.
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